I did not request this book but somehow won a copy of t. I did not request it because I actively dislike alternate history fantasy stories. Despite all this, having been sent a free cy to review, I tried to read it. The writing was average with nothing remarkable enough to hold my interest over the active dislike for the genre so in the first few chapters, zi gave up. I am not assigning a rating because I don't feel I read enough to fairly judge it and a fan of the genre might actually have foundmit interesting. I was bored. I think fans of historical romance might also enjoy this title because although I dislike period pieces, I did think the descriptive narratives successfully painted clear word pictures.

(Note: I received a free review copy of this through LibraryThing Early Reviewers.) An entertaining steampunk pastiche of Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster stories. It's one of a series of shortish stories about gentleman private detective and silly ass Reggie Worcester, his automaton valet Reeves, and his fiancee Emmeline, In this one, the chaps have to investigate the disappearance of Guy Fawkes, who has been revived as a Promethean by one of his descendents. Alas, Fawkes has but one thought left in his head... I found that it worked well even though I hadn't read the earlier stories. Good fun if you like speculative fiction and Wodehouse. ( )

Look. P. G. Wodehouse made it look easy. Bertie the silly ass about town and Jeeves, his perfect, brilliant god like manservant. Romantic comedy and nothing usually more at stake than taking the right girl to tea or evading the gorgon aunties.

But Wodehouse when he is good is effortless and casual - tossing off outrageous plots and comical characters like he's telling you a good one over a pint at the pub.

So Reggiecide tries to take Bertie and Jeeves into a steampunk England and the book tries hard. But we see the author working like a horse on every page and the charm and humor - disapates.

It's basically a long short story with too much on its mind - Mysteries, reviving the dead, the Gunpowder Plot, women's suffrage, and God know what else. Someone told the author that all you had to do was give a character a funny name and you don't have to power giving him or her a personality. So the book is strewn with Ffolkes and Ffarquars and people like Lady Penelope Hyphen-Hyphen-Jones. It's exhausting.

The author tries to recreate the giddy dialogue between Jeeves and Bertie, and sometimes it clicks. But mostly it doesn't.

Promising series hits the sophomore slump. Be curious to see what the author comes up with next

Book Info: Genre: Steampunk mystery, humorous/Wodehouse parodyReading Level: all ages (if able to read it)Recommended for: people who enjoy steampunk stories, fans of Wodehouse's Jeeves novels, who like to laugh

My Thoughts: This is the sequel to What Ho, Automaton! (review linked here where formatting allowed), and a parody of the Wodehouse Jeeves books, set in a steampunk version of Victorian England (right after the turn of the 20th century; they are set in 1903).

Again, this was a very funny novella. It was a fast read, and like the first, full of all kinds of wonderful nonsense. The first book featured mostly automata, and only a few Prometheans (creatures sewn together of various parts and reanimated a la Frankenstein); in this book we mostly see Prometheans, with Reeves being the only automaton featured. I'm not certain if there will be any more of these, but if there are I'll be sure to search them out. Dolley has a dry absurdist sense of humor I find very appealing, and I will most likely be picking up more of his books if I am able. I have two more of his books available to me right now, which I plan to read over the weekend, so watch for those reviews coming up.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewer's program in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: Guy Fawkes is back and this time it’s a toss up who’s going to be blown up first—Parliament or Reginald Worcester, gentleman consulting detective.

But Guy might not be the only regicide to have been dug up and reanimated. He might be a mere pawn in a plan of diabolical twistiness.

Only a detective with a rare brain—and Reggie’s is amongst the rarest—could possibly solve this ‘five-cocktail problem.’ With the aid of Reeves, his automaton valet, Emmeline, his suffragette fiancée, and Farquharson, a reconstituted dog with an issue with Anglicans, Reggie sets out to save both Queen Victoria and the Empire. ( )

I fully have to admit that I did not read the first book in this series. With that being said I think the author did an amazing job of bringing the character Guy Fawkes back to life. The story as a whole reminded me a little bit of Sherlock Holmes with a brilliant character on the investigating scene. This book was a fast paced entertaining read. Towards the ending of the book it seemed as if the author lost his way and just wanted to get the story finished.

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Guy Fawkes is back and this time it's a toss up who's going to be blown up first - Parliament or Reginald Worcester, gentleman consulting detective. But Guy might not be the only regicide to have been dug up and reanimated. He might be a mere pawn in a plan of diabolical twistiness. Only a detective with a rare brain - and Reggie's is amongst the rarest - could possibly solve this 'five-cocktail problem.' With the aid of Reeves, his automaton valet, Emmeline, his suffragette fiancee, and Farquharson, a reconstituted dog with an issue with Anglicans, Reggie sets out to save both Queen Victoria and the Empire. This 19,000 word novella is the sequel to the WSFA Small Press Award finalist, What Ho, Automaton! REVIEWS for the Reeves & Worcester Steampunk Mysteries "A fun blend of P.G. Wodehouse, steampunk and a touch of Sherlock Holmes. Dolley is a master at capturing and blending all these elements. More than fascinating, this work is also rip-roaring fun!" - SF Revu… (more)